League Statement

Gridiron Grinders Madden League (GGML) is a league with an emphasis on immersion, sim style play and maturity from its members. If you see madden as “just a game” then this may not be the right league for you. We want people to treat their team as real owners/general managers. We encourage and reward those who go the extra step to provide interesting , unique and entertaining content. Also as important is sim style play. We want to mimic as much as possible what we see on the field on Sunday's . We want an enjoyable experience for you and our other members.

League Settings / Advance Schedule

Advance: 48 hours. Considerations may be made for playoff games. Pre-Season will consist of Four 12 Hour Advance Periods.

Quarters : 8 Minutes with 20 second accelerated clock

Difficulty - All Pro (Sliders may be implemented)

Injuries : Off for pre-season, On during regular season.

Repeat Play and Play Cooldown: Same play can be called 3 times per game. 3 play cooldown.

League Structure (Commissioners)

The league will have 3 commissioners .

The league will also have a trade committee consisting of commissioners and 2-3 non-commissioner members.

Scheduling and Disconnects and Absences

Users should attempt to schedule within 24 hours of advance. Try to be flexible, consistent difficulty scheduling could lead to removal. Games started within one 1 hour of advance deadline are subject to being simmed. There are no extensions.

In case of a disconnect there are 3 options, if it's the 2nd half the user in the lead can decide. If no agreement can be reached contact a commissioner.

Restart the game from scratch
Restart the game and re-create the score/time at disconnect.
Agree on a force win for one user.

If you are going to be out of town for more than one advance please contact a commissioner and make sure that you are on autopilot.

CPU games that disconnect can not be replayed without picture proof and commissioner approval . If picture proof isn’t available every user gets a “freebie” every few seasons . Where they can replay.

CPU games that are not played by advance will be force wins for the user team.

League Integrity and Ownership Responsibilities:

The Golden Rule is “Don’t Be A Dick”.

Play all your games from start to finish and give your best effort.

If you are going on vacation / auto for a period of more than two advances please notify the commissioner team and post in the Vacation chat on discord on when you will return.

All games are required to be streamed. The home team may host/send the invite while it is the responsibility of the away team to stream. If it is affecting gameplay with lag then you can cut the stream.

Mix up play calling offensively and defensively. You should strive to have at least 10-15 rushes and 10-15 passes at minimum per game. Mix in different concepts and routes. Don’t call the same play over and over. Hot routing a play is still considered calling the same play. On defense mix up concepts , you can stay exclusively in zone but staying in one type of zone (all cover 2, all cover 3 etc) is not acceptable.

If you release a player you must wait one advance before resigning that player. If you drop the player right before advance and then sign him back after the Commish team will see that as a violation.

Relocation is prohibited.

Before joining the league each user must play a game against a current member. This requirement can be bypassed if a current commissioner vouches for the person. The applicant will be evaluated based on sportsmanship and sim style of play. Wins or losses do not matter.

Sportsmanship/Complaints

We are all adults, please be respectful to your opponent. Trash talk is okay but do not get personal and remember we are all here for a good league and a good time. If you have a gameplay complaint do not air it in the main chat. Please try to work it out with your opponent first and if that can’t be done then PM a commish WITH VIDEO PROOF. If you are constantly the subject of complaint it could weigh against you, likewise if you are constantly the one complaining that is not a good look either.

Gameplay / Stat Caps / Position Changes / Abilities

Going for it on 4th Down is Only Allowed if:

It’s 4th & 1 beyond OWN 40

It’s 4th & 2 beyond opponents 35

It’s 4th and inches at anytime

It’s 4th and goal within or on the 5 yard line

The offense is down 10+ points

It is the 4th quarter or overtime

Teams up by 14+ points may not go for it on 4th down

Teams are allowed 1 coach’s decision 4th down attempt / game

Nano blitzing / using glitches or exploits to sack the QB or otherwise take advantage of the opponent, CPU or Human.

Excessive use of the same routes in a game ( Out routes, drags, slants etc). Use reason / discretion in the amount of times you use a route.
Milking the clock all game either through the chew clock function or by waiting until the final seconds to snap the ball. This is only allowed after the 2 minute warning before halftime or after the 3 minute mark of the 4th quarter. Madden games aren’t very long and wasting time beyond those two areas goes against the spirit and rules of the league.
During The 1st possession of Overtime Chew Clock or blatantly milking the clock is not allowed.

A user must have at least THREE defenders assigned to the QB at any time (Rushing or containing, QB spy does not count)
.
STAT CAPS FOR CPU GAMES:

You may not beat the cpu by more than 24 points
You must stream and save your cpu game
500 yards passing / 4 TDs per QB
175 yards rushing / 3 YDs per RB
250 yards receiving / 3 TDs per WR/TE
3 interceptions per defensive player
KR/PR touchdowns do not count towards the total.
Violation of these rules will result in a three USER game suspension for the offending skill player.

The following position changes are allowed:

-HB -> FB

- HB <-> WR

- FB <--> TE (however, HB -> FB -> TE is not allowed)

- OL to any other OL

- DL to any other DL

- DL -> LB (DL must be under 280)

- LB -> DL (LB must be over 230)

- LB -> S

- LB to any other LB

- CB -> S

- S -> CB

- S -> LB (Safety must be over 220 lb and at or under 85 speed.)

Anything not listed is not allowed

Superstar and X Factor players can only change positions a maximum of 3 times per season.

You can update your Superstar and X Factor player abilities a maximum of 3 times per season

Off-Season Rules for Free Agents

Bids below 60 points are not allowed, Those are bids that real life free agents would not entertain. 7 year contracts are not allowed unless the player is asking for it. Free Agency advances will be randomized with 60-90 minutes before and after the scheduled advance time .

Trade Committee / Trade Guidelines

There will be a trade committee that must approve all trades that involve any player over 70 overall or draft picks sooner than the 5th round. Trades are to be submitted to a commissioner.

Trading with CPU is prohibited.

A new user must be in the league for at least 4 in game weeks before being allowed to trade.

A user must make a 1st round selection at least every other year. A user must also make a 2nd round selection at least every other year. These selections do not have to take place in the same year.

Trades involving franchise players (Star dev rookies, players over 90+ overall etc) will be scrutinized much harder than other trades. Especially if the user is newer to the league.

A player cannot be traded more than once a season.

Rookies can not be traded.

Content Requirements

Each owner is encouraged to contribute content in the form of game summaries, power rankings, team transactions, etc. Though it isn't mandatory, users are rewarded with boosts to player ratings.

Game Summaries are the primary way of earning boosts. It is the responsibility of the winning team to do a short recap to earn towards the boost. A user must have 80% of your game summaries posted, aka recaps for 80% of your wins, to be eligible for end of the year boosts. Users with 8-% posted get +2 to a mental and skill attribute of their choices. 100% of game summaries posted gets you the above plus a trait increase on a non developmental trait of your choice.

Owners Meeting

At the end of each season there will be an owners meeting thread where users can propose new rules or air grievances with commissioners or other users in a productive manner. The league can then vote on those proposals. Commissioners can veto a rule if they don't think it is appropriate, but all 3 must agree.

Violation of Rules

If any of the rules in this document are broken, the commissioner will assign a penalty dependant on the nature of the incident and the individual user's history.

Draft picks taken as penalty will be awarded to the team with the worst record at the time. (2nd worst if worst team is the offender.)

More than one indiscretion may result in a banning.

The general outline for punishments goes from informal warning , warning , suspension (user or player) to boot.
The commissioner has the final say in any ruling. Also the ability to make discretionary decisions that may differ from what is outlined in these rules. This includes penalties that are more or less severe than what is described here. The commissioner may also consult a handful of other unbiased users or the entire group when the situation arises.

Miscellaneous

Users can not change teams after Week 3.

All Pro Voting will occur at the end of each season. The league will vote and the winning players will get a small ratings bump.

All-Pro Winners will be rewarded with the following attribute increases of +1 :
QB: SAC, MAC, PAC
HB: CAR, BCV, CTH
WR: CTH, RTE, RLS
TE: RBK, CTH,RTE
DL: PMV, FMV, BSH
LB: PUR, TAK, PRC
CB: MAN,ZONE, CTH
S: TAK, ZONE, PRC
RETURN: KR, INJ, CAR
COACH : User Choice of Above Package
CONTENT: Extra normal to star dev increase for player 25 or older.

At the end of the season commissioners can give a small raise to award winners based on their season stats. This is most likely in the form of a 1 point archetype boost(Pending). Rookie of the year winners will receive a dev boost if they haven't been awarded one already through the game.

Each Season 1 player 25 or older can be moved from normal to star dev. That player can not be traded by the current owner.

Changelog:

10/12/18

Amended language about trade committee and 3 commissioners.
Amended language about rewards for all pro winners until a decision can be made by commissioners.
Added ability for commissioner team to override a rule change if it is unanimous.

10/25 Changed sim score section to mention link.

12/28/18

Added ban on CPU trades explicitly.
Added Rule about Max of 3 User interceptions per player in CPU games.
Decreased User trade limitation from 8 in game weeks to 4 in game weeks.
Clarified that CPU games must be streamed, force loss in next CPU game if not streamed. User games are encouraged to be streamed but if it causes lag then its okay.
Added HB ←→ WR Position Change

2/6/19

Amended 4th down rule to include goal and 5 .

3/3/19

Added rule about not dropping and resigning players.
Added rule about draft picks going to worst record team.
Added rule about raising yearly award winner stats and RoY Dev boosts.
Added 4th down clauses.

8/17/19

Added that a player can only be traded once per season

1/17/20

Added Custom Defensive Playbooks Allowed.
Added 12 hour pre seasons.
Rookies can not be traded.
If you’ve read this please DM Matt on Discord and I’ll give you a +1 Awareness and Play Rec to a player of your choice.
Added Game Summary rewards

5/3/20

Brought back cpu games with more restrictions
Added that cpu games are FWs if not played by advance
Streaming is now mandatory for all games, cpu or user. The home team may host while the away team is responsible for streaming unless the two users agree to do it the other way around
General cleanup of outdated language

9/23/20

72 hour advance changed to 48

8/13/21

Allowed 3 ability changes per year for X Factor and SS
Added 3 same play calls per game and 3 play cooldown
Added LB to Safety to allowed moves